Justin Timberlake revealed at the premiere of "Yogi Bear" on December 11 in Los Angeles, that the prospect of working with "Saturday Night Live" legend Dan Aykroyd helped him decide to lend his voice to the animated film.

"I begged and pleaded to do 'SNL' the first time because I got to see things like the Coneheads and classic, iconic, 'SNL' characters that Dan's created," Timberlake said. "So knowing he was going to do it -- that probably pushed me over the barrier."

The singer turned actor, who voices Boo-Boo Bear in the film, worked with Aykroyd, who voices Yogi Bear, to figure out what made the comedy team of Yogi and Boo-Boo tick.

"Dan and I, when we first sort of started working together on this, we talked about how they were kind of Laurel and Hardy, you know, Abbot and Costello ... they're just a great comedy duo," he said. "He just had this big over the top performance which is hilarious and so we thought it would be funny if, you know just like the '70s cartoons, very dry performance of his sidekick."

Timberlake says that there's a lot more to the film than just comedy and hopes kids enjoy the film. "It's nice to know you can make kids happy with a movie," he said.

"I think it's got a great message for them as well," the star adds. "That places like a Yellowstone for instance, are, for lack of a better term, are endangered and once they're gone, they're gone forever. So I like the environmental angle we're getting in there for the kids. "